A Fateful Meeting
by OutOfDate
Summary: A fateful meeting . . . I suck at titles. n.n Lina is seperated from her friends who meet up with someone from Lina's past.


Disclaimer: Slayers doesn't belong to me . . . or so you think! But yeah, really, I don't own it . . . yet . . . but once I take over the world, you'll all see who really owns this series! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!  
  
Anyone who's read any of my other works knows that I prefer to shy away from plots and focus on character interaction, which is true in this fic, so don't expect an Odyssey or anything.  
  
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Lina woke with a start. Her heart was beating at an alarming rate as she peered around the room. It was the usual room in a traveler's inn; there was a bed, a table, a chair, and a dresser. The moonlight leaked through the window and fell upon the young sorcery genius Lina Inverse, freshly awoken from her slumber. "What a nightmare," Lina sighed and rubbed her face, confident there was no one else it the room with her, "I thought it was so real. But she wouldn't be here; couldn't be here." She downed a glass of water and looked out of her window, "Where are the others? They can't be that lost, can they?"  
  
It had been three days since Lina had lost sight of her companions Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia, and Filia. Having defeated Dark Star the group had started traveling, hoping to stumble upon a cure for Zelgadis, and maybe a new sword for Gourry. After a daring attack on a bandit camp in which the Great Sorcery Genius Lina Inverse had triumphed greatly they had been split. Hoping the others would do so as well; Lina had headed for the nearest town.  
  
She sighed and climbed back into her bed. Hoping to receive sleep without haunting visions of HER, Lina fell into a restless sleep.  
  
- - - - -  
  
"So, where are we going again?" Gourry scratched the back of his head as he peered over Zelgadis' shoulder at the map.  
  
"To town." Zelgadis winced at the swordsman's repeated question and folded the map, "We can't waste anymore time looking for Lina. We'll hope she headed for the same town."  
  
"But Mister Zelgadis, what if something's happened to Lina? She could be hurt!" Amelia whimpered.  
  
"If someone's gone after Miss Lina, I feel sorry for THEM, not Miss Lina. I'm sure she'll be fine, it's just a matter of finding her." Filia assured the princess, "And the town's the best bet."  
  
"After all, if there's a restaurant in town, you can bet we know where to find Lina," Zelgadis added dully.  
  
The travelers had been walking for the good bit of the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set as the chimera turned around, "The city is probably another full day's walk from here, we should consider finding somewhere to camp."  
  
"Hey, do you smell that?" Gourry lifted his nose to the air and sniffed, "It smells like food . . . roast turkey . . . no, chicken . . ."  
  
Looking towards the treetops the four could see smoke from a campfire in the dimming light, not more than ten minutes from where they stood.  
  
"Maybe they'd give us some of their dinner. Lina ate all of our food last week." Gourry pointed out matter-o-factly, while the others moaned, knowing he had eaten just as much as Lina.  
  
"Well, we could go make sure we're on the right track to town, right?" Filia offered as Amelia nodded her agreement.  
  
"I suppose." Zelgadis groaned, wishing he could have come up with an excuse to stay away from the camp. They'd probably see him and pick some sort of a fight, which his tired body didn't need now, "Let's go."  
  
The party slowly crept up on the camp, careful not to walk into more bandits than they could handle; without Lina or Gourry's Sword of Light they could be overrun by a large-scale bandit operation. It appeared to Zelgadis to be a small camp for maybe one or two people. There was a bedroll laid out on the ground and a rather large chicken roasting on a spit over a campfire, but there was no one to be seen.  
  
"Since there's no one here, can we take the food?" Gourry blurted from behind Zelgadis before he got his face smashed into the dirt a la Filia.  
  
"DEMONA CRYSTAL!"  
  
Eyes as big as Lina's dinner plates, all four adventurers whirled around and froze. Their immobility may have at first been caused by surprise, but it soon turned into a magical paralyzation.  
  
"Oh-Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho!" The shrieking screeching ear-splitting blood- curdling raucous laughter was eminating from somewhere behind them and Zelgadis saw the bushes move as a woman stepped out, "Greedy bandits are always drawn to the bait. Well, I guess I'll just have to teach you a lesson."  
  
If it were not frozen in place Zelgadis' jaw would have hit the ground. The woman was tall enough to rival Gourry, and had a bust that most women, namely a small redheaded sorceress, would kill for. She wore the skimpiest outfit any of them had ever seen, made entirely of black leather. A sword hung from her waist and a long black cape was fastened around her shoulders by a large skull brooch and covered by large spiked shoulder pads.  
  
"Now, prepare evildoers, for I am the most powerful, the most beautiful, the greatest sorceress in the land, Naga the Serp- Amelia?" The towering sorceress was stopped in her speech as she began to gawk at the young princess frozen in ice. Zelgadis stretched his vision to see her, as she stared at the woman with eyes wider than should be possible with a look of . . . horror? disgust? shock?, "Amelia, dear, is that you?" As the ice shattered around them the woman let out an ear-piercing laugh again, "Oh-ho- ho-ho-ho! How long has it been, Amelia? Years!"  
  
The young sorceress rubbed her head where a sweatdrop almost as large as her had appeared, laughing nervously, "Didn't, uh-, expect to see you here."  
  
"Hey, Amelia, who's this lady?" Gourry asked, pointing at Naga.  
  
"I am Naga! Naga the White Serpent! The most powerful and beautiful sorc-" She began educating him, before being cut off.  
  
"H-her name is Gracia. She's my sister." Amelia rubbed the back of her head more feverishly and the sweat drop grew as she explained.  
  
Zelgadis gawked at the princess. She couldn't be serious, this loud, boisterous, busty woman could not possible be the . . . loud, zealous, well- endowed princess' . . . Amelia's sister?!  
  
"They kinda look alike. Kinda." Gourry observed.  
  
"She ran away when I was young," Amelia explained, gaping. She turned to whisper in Filia's ear, "She went a bit crazy after my mother died," Filia nodded.  
  
"Uh, Miss Gracia, is it? We were headed to-" Filia began before being rudely interrupted.  
  
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! I am Naga! Naga the Serpent! Most powerful sorceress in the land! Surely Amelia must have told you about me!" The woman nearly shouted.  
  
"Well, she did mention a senile older sister who ran away . . ." Zelgadis commented in an off-hand way.  
  
Appearing rather put-out, the busty woman pouted at her younger sister, "Surely he didn't mean that?"  
  
"Well, erm, Miss Naga, we were headed to find our friend in a nearby town. Would you be able to point us in the right direction?" Filia asked, though unsure it would be wise to take directions from a woman who appeared to have the mind and attention span of a goldfish.  
  
"Well of course, the town is only about an hour from here. I was just setting up camp here to prey on bandits." Naga said matter-o-factly, "However, I will gladly leave my post to escort my young sister to town."  
  
"Errr, thanks." Amelia chuckled nervously. She only hoped Mister Zelgadis didn't think worse of her because of Gracia's . . . personality.  
  
After this woman, Naga the Serpent as she called herself, had packed up her camp the group set out toward the town. 'I hope Miss Lina's alright,' thought Amelia as she trudged on behind her long-lost sister, who had launched into a tale about the bandit gangs she had killed over the past month, a tale which was being ignored by all, it seemed.  
  
A little over an hour had passed when the small town came into view, the lights of the windows winking at them through the darkness. The party sighed, finally an inn to rest at, and some food to put into their stomachs. They headed into the quaint little town which housed only one inn. As they entered the small, dingy tavern it became apparent that Lina Inverse was in town. The restaurant was empty except for the red haired sorceress with her back to them, busily sucking down the town's food supply.  
  
"Miss Lina!" Amelia squealed, "We found you!"  
  
Lina turned toward them, a chicken leg hanging out of her mouth, ready to greet her companions, but was stopped short. Standing close behind Amelia was . . . that woman. All of her nightmares were coming true, that woman had shown up. Oh well, at least she could seize this opportunity. Lina lept from her chair, a fang showing itself from the corner of her mouth as she swallowed the chicken, she streaked toward the adventuring party, charging the tall woman in the center. As she reached her old traveling companion, the woman came out of her shock and whipped around, bolting out of the inn.  
  
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Lina, it's been a long time!" the woman shrieked over her shoulder at the fiery sorceress in close pursuit.  
  
"Come back here, Naga! You owe me for that last dinner! You won't get away from me that easily! FIREBALL!" Lina shouted after her.  
  
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Lina, you're the same as always!" Naga shouted back as she leapt away from the missile.  
  
Back at the inn Filia, Zelgadis and Amelia stood, sweat drops and face-faults aplenty as Gourry inhaled what Lina had left behind.  
  
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So, whatdya think? Pretty anti-climactic ending, eh? Haha, I'm evil like that. Read and review PLEASE!!!! I really need an ego boost. But really, I do pay attention to the reviews, so please review! 


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